1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fusion-bonded optical component manufactured by fusion-splicing optical components (such as an optical fiber, and/or a rod lens, and/or a prism, and the like) together, a method for manufacturing the fusion-bonded optical component, and manufacturing equipment for the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Skilled artisans understand that the fields of optics and optical-related components include wide varieties of specific functional elements. Skilled artisans also comprehend that optical functional elements can be provided with somewhat generic terms which encompass all or virtually all of specific optical functional components within the optical field of art. For instance, optical-related components and/or optical functional elements include components/elements such as a rod lens, a prism, and/or the like. Further, optical components/elements may include any number of individual or plural components, including at least one optical functional element and/or at least one optical fiber. Typically, when a plurality of optical components are joined (through fusion-splicing or another attachment method), the attached components are generically described, for example, as a fusion-bonded optical component.
As an example of fusion-bonded optical components, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-372,604 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,360,039 have disclosed an optical fiber collimator manufactured by fusion-splicing together an optical fiber (a first optical component) and a rod lens (a second optical component).
The above related art has adopted a method in which a laser beam is irradiated to the optical functional element and the optical fiber in order to fusion-splice the two pieces together.